Edit: I can't find a reference/link, but this one was taken years ago near where I live: http://www.capetownskies.com/dane/oct79_25wave_dpb.jpg

VP959

12th Sep 2016, 19:17

These were visible from the East border of Dorset, too, as I saw them this afternoon and wondered what they were. The way they changed shape caught my eye, but I struggled to recall enough from the met stuff learned years ago to work out what they were.

lomapaseo

12th Sep 2016, 19:41

Look in the bottom of any glass of any cheap vodka after you finish your drink and it will look amazing like that

GordonR_Cape

12th Sep 2016, 19:59

You would not find it in your Met syllabus, because its a new type of cloud called asperitas (related to undulatus). It was motivated by the Cloud Appreciation Society (though not yet recognised by the WMO).

Edit: My friend's photo was taken in 1979, so its not a new atmospheric phenomenon, but is a new category or name.

After scratching my head, I found a nice photo and history on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperitas_(cloud)

Planet Basher

12th Sep 2016, 20:01

You get the same effect when someone is using an ecigarette, motorcars make great cloud chambers.

ehwatezedoing

13th Sep 2016, 13:13

Chemtrails :}

MadsDad

13th Sep 2016, 16:02

We've had thunderstorms on and off here all day. The thing is the clouds producing the lightning weren't the usual Cumulo-Nimbus type things but were much more stratified - rather like the clouds pictured above. (Except looking a lot blacker). Lens shaped top cloud with a thinner layer underneath it.

Can you get lightning from a Lenticular cloud?

GordonR_Cape

13th Sep 2016, 17:45

Most likely thunderclouds embedded in a layer of altocumulus. These are specifically covered in SIGMET warnings (EMBD TS), since they are not visible from below.

BTW, a lenticular cloud can form around a thundercloud, called pileus, but that does not fit the description. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileus_(meteorology)